Around 250 million years ago, Earth was devastated by the “Great Dying” — the Permian–Triassic extinction — an event unlike any seen before. Most marine species died out and two-thirds of terrestrial species were lost. Earth took 10 million years to recover.
Four years ago, NPR published an article based on a Smithsonian exhibit that noted “alarming similarities between the Great Dying and what’s currently happening to our atmosphere.”
About 250 million years ago or so, an enormous volcanic field erupted in what is now Siberia. It spewed lava that burned though limestone and coal beds and filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and pollution, possibly for millions of years. That in turn warmed the planet, made the oceans acidic and robbed them of oxygen. More than 90% of species in the oceans died out as did two-thirds of those on land.
There have been other mass extinctions, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago, but this one, at the end of the Permian Period, was mostly caused by too much carbon dioxide rising into the atmosphere. And the Smithsonian notes often in its exhibit that the current warming of the planet is déjà vu all over again.
Dr. Sedeer el-Showk of Aalto University in Finland wrote:
At the moment, scientists estimate that atmospheric carbon is increasing by about 10 gigatons each year — four times faster than the “rapid” pulse at the height of the Permian extinction!
. . . the Permian extinction offers a clear warning that there is a tipping point — eventually, the balance shifts, and the whole system changes.
An international team of researchers found that approximately 90% of all marine life on Earth will be at risk of extinction within this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed.
New York Times reported four years ago that almost all climate scientists believe the best mitigation of catastrophic climate change is to reduce the use of fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind.
Yet Canadian politicians have instead been spending tens of billions of public dollars to accelerate fossil fuel production. Along with oil and gas executives, they are collectively guilty of committing and plotting homicide.
Harvard Environmental Law Review examined how criminal law might hold individuals responsible for extreme lethality of their conduct:
Fossil fuel companies learned decades ago that what they produced, marketed, and sold would generate “globally catastrophic” climate change. Rather than alert the public and curtail their operations, they worked to deceive the public about these harms and to prevent regulation of their lethal conduct. They funded efforts to call sound science into doubt and to confuse their shareholders, consumers, and regulators. And they poured money into political campaigns to elect or install judges, legislators, and executive officials hostile to any litigation, regulation, or competition that might limit their profits. Today, the climate change that they forecast has already killed thousands of people in the United States, and it is expected to become increasingly lethal for the foreseeable future.
If we act to avoid catastrophe, we must do it immediately.
Categories: Climate Change
in-sights.ca 
Homicide charges? Might be something to look at. Might even cause a few C.E.O.s to have second thoughts about how they do business. However, it is doubtful we will ever get the laws changed, etc.
The Edmonton police dept. charged fent. dealers with murder for selling fent. which killed people. Case didn’t go any where. It was a good try though.
The “law” frequently doesn’t even prosecute people who have actually murdered others, like in shot them, stabbed them, hit them to death, etc. Those who run the corporations who cause the climate change which causes the death of animals and humans are almost above the law. They are so wealthy, their political power goes mostly unchallenged in this world. Yes, I recall tabacco complanies had to pay a lot of money as did a drug company in the U.S.A. but none were ever in danger of being sent to jail.
People die because of climate change, but corporations are only interested in their next quarter results. No one has stuck them in water flowing so fast their children die. The corporate heads and politicians rarely have to deal with the impact of their decisions.
Here in North america we have had a lot of rain and some of it resulted in deaths. However in India, the rain was much, much worse and the impact on people is so much worse.
In the U.S.A. the death rate for women post delivery has doubled in the past 10 years. — lack of health care, pre natal care, post natal care, etc. Yet they have politicians who want to ensure there is even less health care available while all the while ensuring its not available in some states.
Politicians and corporations don’t care about the people living and working aroundn them who are not multi millionaires and billionaires.
LikeLike
Negotiated settlement..as in you can jump from the 10th floor or the 30th floor? Very likely the outcome will be the same.
We really need a consciousness wake up event to happen rather quickly. An event such as a major power interruption such that all the people blissfully sitting under their air conditioned environments (as in NA) need to experience what people in Asia and Africa are having to deal with daily in their non air conditioned environments. Look at the temps in Texas right now. Wow!
These Western politicians need to be held legally responsible under law for continuing to do the generational damage by these psychopathic leaders (Trudeau, Eby, Smith et al) and executives in private polluting industries. They get into office do the corporations business as usual bidding, then rotate out into some promised private sector parachute job totally unscathed or retire on an air conditioned fat pension.
Society shares in this travesty by blindly going along at 100 kph, headed for a cement wall and we are 10 feet away. Splat!
Gaia is telling us. If we can’t live by her house rules then we can’t stay.
LikeLike
Tim, I get where you’re coming from, but the negotiated settlements envisaged by the authors include a range of options such as asset seizure, restructuring of the corporations, takeover by beneficial public trusts, fines, and incarceration. Unless you mean the jumper in question would be the prosecutor the results would not necessarily be the same.
The paper advances the case that there is enough existing legislation to get the job done. What is lacking is the political will to use it.
I share your view that Western politicians should be held legally responsible, but since they are the folks who would have to fashion, enact and enforce any enhanced legislation that would ensnare themselves, I’m not optimistic. Since your description of how most of them conduct themselves in office regarding environmental matters is apt, we have a steep hill to climb and not much time to do it.
Wildfires, one symptom of the approaching peril, don’t seem to be hot enough for these politicians to do anything on climate matters but use the part of their chops not firmly glued to the corporate butt to pay lip service. We need to find a way to add political careers to the fires. Perhaps that will make them hot enough.
I don’t know how to do it, only that it seems necessary.
LikeLike
Yes, the temperatures are very high in Texas and just to insure workers don’t sue their employers or demand time off or drinking water, the Gov., Abbott has revoked the law which required those working in high temps. to be given 10 minute breaks so they could get out of the heat and also have water to drink.
Guess Abbot’s political doners wanted to ensure deaths of workers due to dehydration and heat exhaustion didn’t cost them anything and also to get extra time from the workers. Don’t want to impede the making of profits. as one commenter pointed out the majority of workers in construction are Latinos
LikeLike
Interesting paper. Seems predicated on the benefits of negotiated settlement, but society might benefit greatly from the process even if the prosecutions fail.
As usual however, lack of political will would be the stumbling block. Especially if politicians are potential co-defendants.
LikeLike